Recently, we started an experiment regarding the scope of our mastermind group. We are basing much of the content of our weekly meetings around the ideas raised in Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich". Hill recommends following a 6-step plan of sustained action to achieve your Burning Desire, and so far all of us have failed in our personal attempts to follow this advice.
So, we decided as a group to foster action by adding a weekly Power Morning to our schedule. The principle seems simple enough - each week those of us who can spare a few hours meet up to generously give our time and individual skills to help a specific member of the group to take action towards their personal business goals. The member in question is required to do a little pre-planning on this of course, so that on the day they can confidently direct the rest of us to make best use of our time and energies. The ideal scenario is that we have an action-packed, dynamic morning, creatively and harmoniously drawing on each others' talents propelling us forward on our quests...
However, in practice, it isn't quite working out as we'd all imagined. The first participant overslept (very uncharacteristic of her) and was ruffled and unprepared when the mastermind team arrived at her studio raring to go. The morning was consequently a bit disorganised and much less productive than it could have been, leaving the group feeling a bit flat. The second session was organised and productive, but it was a little unclear to the group exactly what purpose their actions served, so they questioned the value of contributing their precious time. And the third session was ambitious, in that the participant planned everyone's individual tasks down to the letter, except that the tasks more suitable for a week of action rather than a few hours, so the general feeling was of disappointment or frustration of being asked to do too much and not being able to complete what was started.
Although the Power Mornings from the group's point of view are focused on giving generously and gratefully, rather than what we can get out of them, and as such are based on a worthy ethos, my intuition tells me that in this case the Power Mornings will have to go. Meeting up twice a week with the same particular group is, it turns out, a huge time commitment that could turn into a chore rather than something we all look forward to. And becoming more directly involved in each other's businesses changes the dynamics of the actual mastermind session itself - it makes the process more personal and subjective; it risks losing the more objective and constructively-critical viewpoints we started out with that are so valuable when exchanging ideas and coaching members to find solutions and ways forward.
Achieving the right frequency for your group might take a little experimentation to find out what works, but getting the balance right is crucial if the group is to survive and continue to strengthen and develop.
As the initiator of the Mastermind Group I attend every week, I had the idea at the beginning that somehow I was responsible for it, in the sense that I had started it and I was leading it forward and so I had to be present at every session to inform, guide, facilitate, structure, focus, energize, etc. Even though I often invite another member of the group to lead a session, or co-facilitate it, or run a workshop or whatever, and we're a very supportive and pro-active group as a whole, essentially I've felt up to now that I'm the one providing the MM service for the others.
This week though, I failed on every level to do any of those things; I forgot my notes, I hadn't made the time to plan the session ahead of time, and was generally so preoccupied with my own life that I got to the session in a state very different than my usual relaxed, prepared and positive self. Immediately after I stuttered some sort of opening sentence, the group, and I mean the group, not just an individual, asked me what was wrong and what was bothering me - after 7 months of meeting every week, and sharing our thinking and ideas, it's easy enough to tell if someone isn't on their usual form.
So, I apologized and described the business problem I'd had that week and the stress I'd experienced as a result by way of explanation. How great then is the power of the Mastermind? The next thing I knew, everyone in the group had a personal experience about that aspect of business to share to try and help me. Over the course of the next hour, contributions came from everyone in the form of practical advice, suggestions for possible solutions, examples of different outcomes exampled in similar situations, albeit in completely different industries, lots of questions and a lively open discussion about my particular situation and how I might approach it. It was such a useful session that I took notes - there was so much to take in and remember. I thanked everyone at the end - I was so grateful for everyone's input to my problems and apologized again for being off-form/off-plan.
Attitudes towards attending a MM group are so important for the group to function at a true Mastermind level - I have always asked people to remember to think not "what did I get out of that?" after a session, but "what did I give or contribute to that?". I felt almost guilty after this session that I'd got so much out of it and hadn't really given anything except the problem to discuss. Over the next few days though, I got calls one by one from the group - to see if I was OK, to see how my problem/solution was going, but mainly to say 'thanks' and to let me know that it was one of the most enjoyable and useful of our sessions to date as the subject was something relevant to anyone in business, ie. all of us in our particular group.
I'm just so grateful now to have found the Mastermind process and to be able to participate in it and continue to learn from it and contribute to it in whatever capacity I can.
So, we had our first Mastermind Group meeting of 2008 in January and I posed the question "has anyone set themselves any Big Hairy Audacious Goals for 2008 yet?". And the unanimous answer was "not really". To a certain extent I expected this - we all have young children, who have only just returned to school after the holiday and we're all here in Andalucia, Spain, where the general answer to most things is "manana" (tomorrow), so no need to put yourself under too much pressure then...
But another part of me was disappointed - where were my crew of previously keen, go-getting, dynamic, entrepreneurial business women? As the meeting warmed up though, it turned out that actually we had all set some goals for ourselves, though mostly not the Big ones that I was suggesting we could.
What is a goal anyway? And does setting them help? In life coaching terms, a goal is a statement of something that you intend to do in the future within a given timeframe. Writing your goals down is a standard approach to helping you realize your dreams , your ambitions, your desires. A popular version is SMART goal setting - Specific, Measurable, Attainable and Realistic within a certain Time. This seems very sensible indeed, but maybe a goal that you already know is within your capability isn't the thing that's really going to inspire you.
Are we being too easy on ourselves? In "Think and Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill encourages you to write down your Burning Desire and say it out loud every day to yourself as a form of Autosuggestion to help it become a reality. His focus is on the things that you don't know for sure that you can achieve - the big dreams, the ones that require a certain amount of faith and risk and hope and a step into the unknown. Choosing a path of true growth indeed.
Maybe it's a just question of definition? Bob Proctor in his article "Purpose, Vision, Goals" asks you to differentiate between your Vision and your goals, the goals being the daily little steps you take towards achieving your bigger picture. Getting your Vision right is the important thing, then setting the right goals is clearer and as a result you're more likely to achieve them.
Maybe it's actually all a question of language? The word "goal" turns some people off immediately, including my partner, David, who prefers to use gentler words like 'aspiration'. To him, the word 'goal' seems corporate, definitive, inflexible, and too black & white. Think of a soccer player scoring a goal - it's direct, all action. An 'aspiration' is more flexible - it allows along the way for change, inspiration, sensitivity and a journey of pure potential. Joe Vitale has an interesting post on his blog on a similar theme: http://blog.mrfire.com/secret/why-i-gave-up-intentions/
Certainly traditional goal-setting as a concept doesn't work for lots of people - it's just doesn't get them excited or propel them forward, so as a personal or business development tool it's unlikely to help. How many people do you know who actually manage to fulfill their New Year's resolutions?
So, before you go full steam ahead on your resolutions or goals for 2008, why not step back for a moment and consider taking a slightly different approach? Perhaps there's a way of thinking about what you want to achieve which will ultimately suit you or your business better.
Our little mastermind group (5 of us) down here in a small seaside village on the southern coast of Spain is to me like a fledgling - a new bird learning to fly: a bit wobbly and clumsy, and probably looking quite funny from the outside, but determined to do it all the same and also pre-programmed deep down to know how to, once it can get all its bits working in harmony with each other.
We've grown been reading Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" over the last 9 weeks. Next week we'll be discussing the last part - the Epilogue: 'How To Outwit the 6 Ghosts of Fear'. Our cosy little book club is about to transform itself into something beyond that - into a support group for real action in the real world. Will it fly?
I hope so and I believe so. Through the last 10 weeks, we've been meeting for a couple of hours a week to discuss the concepts chapter by chapter in Hill's fantastic book - with the help and guidance of a great set of notes on TGR written by Paul Martinelli of Life Success Inc.- thank you Paul! In doing so, the group has formed it's own dynamic, which is, of course, greater than the sum of its individual parts and which already seems to be taking on its own momentum.
As initial facilitator of this, the first ever Mastermind group I've been associated with, I had no idea what to expect or what would happen as a result of starting it. My intuition just told me it was a good idea and that even if it was a short-lived one, that only good could come of it. And even now, without 'properly' testing a thing, I know I was right.
I know that as individuals, our patterns of thinking have been changed and will continue to change and become more powerful in directing our lives and our businesses - they already are. At the moment, it's apparent mainly in small things - in details like the words we choose to use when we express things, or the (positive) ideas we'll suggest when people ask for opinions or advice, but these small changes are part of a much bigger picture of change.
I know also that collectively, we have come in a very short space of time to reach an understanding of what we're all meeting for - what the group is meant to do - apparent from the beaming smiles we all have when we arrive at a meeting. Yes, there's work to do, and we're doing it, but it's also fun, much like learning to fly, I imagine.
So if any of you out there are thinking of starting or joining a group. Don't procrastinate, just do it ! With the support of a group, you'll all be learning to fly in no time...
EvanCarmichael.com is the world's #1 website for small business motivation and strategies. Evan also runs a series of successful Mastermind Groups in Toronto for entrepreneurs.
Guest Contributor: Michelle Rumney
